'American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown, 1781-1783:' A review

American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown, 1781-1783
William M. Fowler Jr.
Walker & Co., 330 pp., $27

Reviewed by Terry Golway

Thomas Paine wrote a famous series of essays — begun as he marched through New Jersey during the Continental Army’s demoralizing retreat in 1776 — often referred to as the American Crisis. The first, written just before the Battle of Trenton, told patriots that “these are the times that try men’s souls.”

William M. Fowler Jr.’s new book echoes the title of Paine’s to remind us that the American crisis did not end with George Washington’s victory at Yorktown in October 1781. In fact, the two years that followed were filled with diplomatic, political and financial crises.

It is commonly accepted that the Revolution ended when Lord Cornwallis’ trapped army laid down its arms in Yorktown in late 1781. But while Yorktown certainly was the last large battle of the Revolution, Fowler’s narrative shows there was nothing inevitable about American independence or stability after Cornwallis surrendered.

If anything, the American victory at Yorktown led not to sustained jubilation, but a new crisis of confidence. “Congress,” Fowler writes, “was nearly bankrupt. The states could not agree on a plan for national revenue, and the fabric of the union, never strong, was fraying as Congress divided into bickering factions.” This might sound familiar.

Meanwhile, troops grew tired of missed paychecks and spoke of bringing their complaints — and their weapons — directly to Congress, threatening a core ideal of the infant republic, civilian control over the military. Most of the troops, Fowler writes, “were convinced that Congress had turned its back on them and that the politicians in Philadelphia stood ready to heave them over the side at the first whiff of peace.”

Into this crisis stepped the tall Virginian who served as commander-in-chief during those soul-trying times of war and deprivation. While the diplomats debated the terms of peace and people such as Robert Morris sorted out the nation’s finances, Washington foiled the most-ominous crisis of all: a possible coup led by Continental Army officers.

Fowler does justice to the unforgettable scene when Washington, who was no orator, addressed his dissatisfied troops near the Hudson River town of Newburgh, N.Y., in March 1783. After pleading with them to be patient and praising the “dignity” of their “conduct” during the war, he told them that history would always remember their “glorious example.”

Then, as he finished, he took out his spectacles to read from a letter. Nobody had ever seen the great Washington with spectacles. He apologized to his officers, saying that “he had grown gray in their service, and now found himself growing blind.”

The men were silent, and then they wept. This American crisis was over.

Terry Golway is director of the Kean University Center for History, Politics and Policy.